woolford



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet I.

T. Y. WOOLFORD.

. snow PLOW. No. 389,040, Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(N0 Model.)

T. Y. WOOLPORD.

SNOW PLOW.

Patented, Sept. 4, 1888.

ATTORNEY,

UNITED 'rnrrns PATENT @rrrca.

THOMAS Y. \VOOLFORD, OF AUGUSTA, \VEST VIRGINIA.

SNOW-PLOW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 389,040, dated September 4, 1888.

Application filed May 5, 1858. Serial No. 272.98.). (No mndel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS Y. WooLFonD, of Augusta, in the county of Hampshire and State of \Vest Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Snow-Flows, of which the following is a specification.

My improved plow is intended for removing snow from railway-trucks, and for that purpose it is mounted on a truck or car which runs on the track and is propelled bya locomotive in rear of it.

My invention is more particularly an improvement in that class of railway snow-plows which have a revolving wheel placed in front and provided with peripheral cutters or scrapers that dig into the snow and remove it to either side of the track.

The features of novelty embodying myinven tion are as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section of my improved plow and a box-car to which it is applied. Fig. 1 is a detail side view of the clearers. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on line :0 :0, Fig. 1, showing the snow-wheel and clearers in plan. Fig. 3 is a front view of the snow-wheel and clearers, the divider and shield being detached. Fig. '-:1-.isa horizontal section of the snow-wheel on line y 3/, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the divider and shield detached. Fig. 6 is a per spective view of one of the elearers detached.

As shown in Fig. 1, the snow-wheel A works in front of the boxcar B, whose front end is curved or made concave, conformably to the shape of the wheel. The latter is made in two parts-that is to say, of two drums. It may be constructed of boiler-iron or sheetsteel orother suitable material. It is held about two (2) inches above the rails.

The wheel A is mounted on and supported by a transverse shaft, 0, having its bearings in the inwardly-bent forward ends of arms D, Figs. 2 and 3, that extend backward and are suitably attached to the car B. The sides of the wheel are not flush, but recessed, as shown in Fig. il, to allow space for the bearings of the shaft 0 and the ends of the arms I), so that such parts will not come in contact with the walls of the snow-drifts through which the wheel cuts its way.

It will be understood that the width of the wheel A must in all cases exceed the width of the car.

In practice an engine (not shown) will be located in the rear portion of the car B and its pitman E will connectwith the crank of the driving-shaft F, which is arranged transversely in the forward portion of the car B and hasits hearings on the engine frame. A combined fly and chain wheel, G, is mounted on this shaft F, and from it a chain, H, extends through openings in the front of the car and passes around a chain-wheel, G, that, Fig. 1, is keyed on the shaft of the snowwheel A between its two drums. By this means the wheel may be rotated at any required rate of speed. Its direction of rotation is indicated by an arrow, Fig. 1, its front side moving upward.

011 each side of the chain-wheel G, Figs. 1 and 1, there is a peripheral flange, a, that serves as a guard to prevent access of snow to the said chainwheel G. On each side of the flanges or guards a there is a series of blades or cutters, 19, whose function is to dig into the snow beneath and in front of the wheel Aand remove such portion as they take up. The cuttors are formed of sheet-steel and curved laterally and forwardly from each of the guardflanges a, to which their inner ends are united. They are also preferably inclined rearward at a slight angle to extended radii of the wheel A, Fig. 1, in order to adapt them to cut into the snow and detach slices of the same with greater ease than would be otherwise practicable.

In front of the snow-wheel A is a snow divider and shield, I, which is wedgeshaped in cross-section and of sufficient width at its rear side to enable it to prevent snow from entering the space between the flanges a. This divider is constructed of boiler-plate or steelplate, as preferred, and suitably attached to the top of the car B and to a bar, K, Fig. 1, extending forward from the bottom of the car. As the snow taken up by the cutters b will not usually discharge itself from the spaces between the latter, I provide means for performing this function automatically. They consist of bars or plates L, pivoted ata common point on the upper front portion of the car B and extending forward over the wheel A, their front ends, 0, being bent or turned down to form heads adapted to enter and work in the spaces between the cutters, as shown in Figs. 1, l, 2, 3. The inner end of each head 0 works in frictional contact with the adjacent guard a and with the inner side of the cutters b, as shown in Fig. 3, and thus as the wheel A revolves the clearers L c are forced laterally, and thereby push out the snow lying in the spaces between the cutters b. To retract the clearers L after passing laterally oft the outer end of the respective cutters b, I connect them by a spiral spring, M, Figs. 1, 2, 3, which tends to draw and hold them together. It is obvious that separate springs may be employed for this purpose; also, that the clearers may be pivoted at separate points instead of a common one.

The cutters b alternate in position on each side of the wheel A. In other words, each cutter on each side or drum of the wheel is arranged opposite a space between two cutters on the opposite side of the wheel, so that the movements of the clearers are also alternate instead of simultaneous.

The operation of the plow as a whole is readily apparent. The car D being propelled along the track by a locomotive, (not shown,) the wheel A is thereby forced into the snow lying ahead on the track to greater or less depth. The engine (not shown) in the car D turns the shaft F, which in turn drives the wheel A, whose cutters or blades a take into the snow and carry up portions, which the clearers then push off laterally.

W'hat I claim is- 1. The combination, with the car and the revolving snow-wheel arranged transversely and having laterally and forwardly curved peripheral cutters, of automatic clearers which are pivoted in rear of the wheel and have their front ends bent or turned down to adapt them to enter and work in the spaces between said cutters, substantial y as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the car and the snow-wheel arranged transversely in front of the same, ofthe two cleare'rs pivoted in rear of the wheel and having heads, and a spring for holding them normally retracted and in working contact with the circumferential middle flanges and lateral cutters of the wheel, as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the snow-wheel having a central chain-wheel secured to it, of a wedge-shaped divider and shield arranged in front and expanded to cover and protect the said chain-wheel, as shown and described.

4. The combination of the vertical wedgeshaped divider and shield with thesnow-wheel arranged transversely and the chain-wheel mounted on the same shaft, and peripheral flanges attached to said wheel located alongside the chain-wheel, as shown and described.

T. Y. WOOLFORD.

W i t n esses:

AMos XV. HART, H. B. BROWN. 

